Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008
Every year since 2004, Technorati has published a State of the Blogosphere report highlighting the trends and directions that blogging is headed in. This year, a survey of bloggers will be delving deeper into the blogger’s mind with more information related to how we blog and who we are as bloggers. For reference, there is an archive of all State of the Blogosphere here.
Each day during the week ending September 27, Technorati had a new post published with insight into the current state of the blogosphere.
Technorati defines the Active Blogosphere as: The ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers and readers at the convergence of journalism and conversation.
For the 2008 State of the Blogosphere Report, we wanted to go beyond the numbers to deliver insights into bloggers and the state of blogging today. Who are the bloggers, why and how do they do what they do, and what is the impact on their lives and work?
To find out, we conducted a survey from a random sample from more than 1.2 million bloggers who have registered with Technorati. In addition, we have supplemented the survey results with our traditional analysis of Technorati’s index data.
For convenience purposes, here are the links:
- Day 1 - Who Are the Bloggers?
- Day 2 - The What and Why of Blogging
- Day 3 - The How of Blogging
- Day 4 - Blogging for Profit
- Day 5 - Brands Enter the Blogosphere
I will discuss a number of the main points mentioned in the study, including analysis and information that was provided. References to images are included, so you should use the associated content.
Content included is copyright Technorati, Inc.
Blogs Continue to Grow
The number of blogs being reported by sources such as comScore, eMarketer, and Universal McCann all report figures of bloggers, people reading blogs, and total blogs ranging from 22.6 to 346 million blogs/bloggers/etc. - a large indication that the mainstream media is continuing to adopt blogs.
The Term ‘Blog’
As the debate continues to grow as the term continues to be swayed by blogs that appear more as “magazines,” although they are still connected, include a comments area, although more than 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs.
Stats
These figures relate to the image shown in the study.
- 133 million blog records indexed by Technorati since 2002.
- 7.4 million blogs posted within the past 120 days.
- 1.5 million blogs posted in the last 7 days.
- 900,000 blog posts in past 24 hours.
- 76,0000 blogs with Technorati Authority of at least 50.
- Top 100 blogs by Technorati Authority (image).
Day 1 - Who Are the Bloggers?
More than half of all bloggers have a household income of over $75,000, and are generally affluent and educated. Three out of four are college graduates, while 42% have attended graduate school.
Half of all bloggers are on their second year of blogging; 59% have been blogging for more than two years, indicating that a majority of bloggers have been blogging for more than a year.
Global Bloggers
- Two-thirds of bloggers are male.
- 50% are between the ages of 18-34.
- Four in ten have an annual household income of $75K+; One in four have an annual household income of $100K+.
- 44% are parents.
In the United States, a majority of bloggers do not live near the largest metropolitan areas. The largest concentration is near the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by New York City, and Los Angeles.
- 43% of blogger respondents live in the United States.
- 72% of bloggers write in English.
Technorati Authority
In June, 45% of the bloggers that posted have an Authority of at least one, meaning they have produced content that has been linked to by another website/blog.
How Bloggers are Identified
- Personal bloggers blog about topics of personal interest not associated with their work; makes up 79% of total.
- Professional bloggers blog about their industry and profession, but not in an official capacity for their company; 46% of total.
- Corporate bloggers blog for a company in an official capacity; 12% of total.
Four out of five bloggers tend to be blogging for personal reasons, while about half of bloggers are professional bloggers, generating some sort of income for their own business, and another 12% blog for an official company.
Blogging in General
The “new” aspect of blogging is now over, as 49% of bloggers report that they are on their first blog, while 51% of respondents said they are not on their first blog, with many on their 6th+ blog.
Day 2 - The What and Why of Blogging
A majority of bloggers write about multiple topics, of both personal and professional topics, which are both equally popular. Half of bloggers consider their writing style to be sincere, conversational, humorous, and expert.
Prominent Topics: Personal/Lifestyle, Technology, Other, News, and Politics
Reasons for Blogging
The main reasons that people begin a blog is to “speak my mind on areas of interest,” “share my experience and expertise with others,” and “to meet and connect with like minded people.” Read the rest of the article to find additional reasons.
Measuring the Success of Blogs
75% of bloggers measure success in personal satisfaction; 58% in number of posts or comments on their blog; while 53% on the number of unique visitors. Revenue stood at only 16%, followed by “number and quality of new business leads” at 10%.
Concealing Your Real Identity on Your Blog
44% of respondents said that it isn’t important at all; 24% not that important; 20% somewhat important; followed by 12% of very important. The main reasons for wanting to conceal their identities were to ensure that their family and friends were not exposed or harassed at 44%, followed by “other” at 36%.
Additional reasons include: It allows me to break news and post rumors I hear about without fear of receiving bad info, personal safety and privacy, and respect for my company.
Impact of Blogging on Personal Life
A majority of bloggers responded that they have made friends who they have communicated with online, but never met in person, and have become more involved with my hobbies/interests as a result of blogging. Professional and corporate bloggers also responded by saying that blogging has benefited them.
Blogging Has Opened up Unique Opportunities
People in the survey responded, saying that they have been invited to interest group events, blogger roundtables, and have been endorsed as a sponsor/reviewer.
One third of bloggers have received free products through their blogging career (whether sent to them, at blogging conferences, etc.).
Day 3 - The How of Blogging
Time Spent Blogging
The average blogger spends between 3-10 hours per week blogging, making up roughly 42% of the entire population. 24% spend at least 10 hours, followed by 34% spending less than 3 hours per week.
Help While Blogging
78% of people who took the survey reported that they are the sole person who writes on their blog, followed by unpaid help at 13%, and paid staff at just 9%.
Posting by Technorati Authority
In order to get into the “Top 100″ list, the average blog produced 310 posts, over the course of 23 days (factoring out to about 13 posts/day, with the next 500 at 20 days/125 posts, and the next 5000 at 13 days/25 posts. Clearly, the top 100 blogs need to continue producing that high level of posts to remain at the top.
Tag Usage
- 71% of top 100 blogs use tags.
- 59% of next 500 blogs use tags.
- 45% of next 5000 blogs use tags.
- 36% of all active bloggers use tags.
- Most tags fell under the News, Music, Video, Internet, or Blog categories.
Blogging Tools
85% of blogs use a commenting system, 84% have archives by date or category, 82% have built-in syndication, and 70% have a search box. An average blog uses seven out of the thirteen tools listed, with the average blog using at least four widgets.
Main Methods of Visitor Attraction
- Listing their blog on Technorati, commenting on other blogs, listing their blog on Google, and tagging their blog posts.
- The “average” blogger uses at least five of the methods included to attract visitors.
Connection to Readers
Between six and ten percent of all bloggers have worked to meet their readers, while 53-70% of all bloggers have not worked to create any events with their readers.
Statistics and Analytics Tools
Google Analytics is the primary method of capturing the level of visitors that blogs receive, used by 66% of bloggers. SiteMeter and StatCounter follow behind this, in use by 1/5 bloggers; 42% use more than one service; and in total, more than 100 tools are used.
- 49% of blogs receive less than 1K visitors/monthly, 33% 1-10K, 12% 10-50K, and 6% 50K and higher.
- 54% of blogs receive less than 5K page views/monthly, 25% 5-20K, 13% 20-100K, and 8% 100K and higher.
Blog Investment
In the past year, the mean US$ invested was $1,020, with the average blog investing just $50, and the maximum was $200,000 (although many “sites/projects” would cost more than this).
Day 4 - Blogging for Profit
Advertising on Blogs - Types and Percentages
- 46% run no advertising on their blog
- 38% have search ads
- 28% have display ads
- 20% have added affiliate marketing links
- 6% participate in paid posting
- 5% are spokesbloggers
- 4% run rich media ads
- 28% use three or more methods
Advertising Management
The largest group of people use self-serve tools to offer contextual ads or use pay per click ads on their blogs (69%), followed by affiliate advertising links, getting paid for purchases generated by visitors (35%), and negotiation with advertisers directly (19%).
24% of bloggers do not want their blog cluttered with ads, 24% do not want to make money from their blog, and 21% do not have enough visitors to make it worthwhile. Additional categories make up the remaining percentages.
Average Income
The average blog, according to Technorati, makes more than $6,000, followed by the top 1%, who generate more than $200,000 yearly. $75,000 was the average income for those who generated more than 100,000 unique visitors per month ($6,250/month). The median was just over $22,000.
Bloggers who do advertising on their blog/offsite spend an average of $1,800 annually. The median revenue of U.S. bloggers, at $200, typically spend about $50 on their blog.
Average CPM for advertising in the U.S. is $1.20; mean is $4.20, and the maximum is $30 (CPM US$ is cost per thousand impressions).
Day 5 - Brands Enter the Blogosphere
More than 80% of people have posted product or brand reviews on their blog, with only 18% who have never done so.
Credibility in the Blogosphere and Media
71% report that blogs are taken more seriously as sources of information; 51% say more people will get their news and entertainment from blogs than traditional media in the next five years; and 49% say blogs are just as valid media sources as traditional media.
U.S. bloggers spend “nearly twice as much time online as U.S. adults 18-49, and one-third as much time watching television.”
Participation in “Web 2.0″ Activities
- 84% comment on articles or blog posts that they have read.
- 69% have subscribed to an RSS feed.
- 68% watch videos online.
- The average person participates in at least 5 of these activities.
Brand Messaging
61% of bloggers feel that other blogs entice them to learn more about products and services, followed by web content at 46%, and TV, print, or outdoor advertising at 33%.
Conclusion
Please be aware that this is simply a summary of what was stated in the report - please visit the main article for additional information on the history and future of blogging/blogs.
Many of the figures didn’t come as much of a surprise to me, although it was worthwhile knowing some of these figures to better target certain groups. I believe that some of the figures were skewed by participants, who didn’t state their correct income, as $6,000/yearly appears slightly high for the average income.
In addition, this article can help bloggers who look at trends, as the previous reports can be found in the archives, for comparison.
